Up-to-date News on Foster Care policies and implementations

President Obama signs the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which includes the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA). This bill will help end abuse, give hope to victims, and provide families with the help they need.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/20/president-obama-signs-critical-legislation-prevent-child-abuse-and-domestic-violence

Effective 2014 The Health Care Reform also includes children aging out of foster care to receive Medicaid up until 26 years of age. YAY! (Children with parents can stay on their parent’s coverage until 26 – and now they included children without parents).

http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/health_reform_for_children.pdf

Children in foster care will now be eligible for housing vouchers, whether it’s to be reunified with family or to help toward the aging out process to prevent homelessness. Please pass on the info.

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-171

 President Obama Proclaims National Foster Care Month for May: “Nearly a half-million children and youth are in foster care in America, all entering the system through no fault of their own. During National Foster Care Month, we recognize the promise of children and youth in foster care, as well as former foster youth…”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-national-foster-care-month

These youth are the future leaders of tomorrow and are to be celebrated. URS will be featuring a foster youth each month to commemorate his or her achievements and successes after transitioning from foster care.

If you are or know of a foster youth who has fostered his/her way out of no way and have achieved personal success, URS would like to hear your story and consider you as one of our All-Star Champion.  Please inquire for further information by e-mailing us at info@railroad2success.com

URS will continue to evolve in hopes to become the paradigm for all other independent living programs to assist in successfully transitioning youth, aging out of foster care, to their own independence.

URS plans to expand our services so that we can reach a multitude of foster children in order to equip them with the knowledge to succeed beyond the walls of foster care.  The Underground Railroad to Success will continue to evolve in hopes to become the paradigm for all other independent living programs to assist in successfully transitioning youth, aging out of foster care, to their own independence.

“Nationwide – An estimated, 20,000 adolescent children “age out” of the foster care system each year. According to the Child Welfare League of America, 25 percent become homeless, 56 percent are unemployed and 27% of male children end up in jail. In fact, the next big wave of homeless people might be foster kids aging out.” ~ PBS Online News

What is the difference between Foster Care and Adoption?

Foster Care is a temporary situation in which a child lives with a foster family because he/she cannot live with his/her birth family. Sometimes the foster child needs a temporary foster home due to neglect, abuse, unsafe and detrimental home life, or the birth parents are deceased, incarcerated or otherwise unable to parent.

Adoption is a permanent placement to a new family.  Adoptive parents have the same legal rights and responsibilities to a child as if he were their own birth child.

The significant differences of Foster Care and Adoption is as follows:

·         Legal responsibility of a child. An adoptive family has the same legal rights and responsibilities as a birth family.  A foster child is a ward of the state and a foster family has little legal standing.

·         Financial responsibility. Adoptive families are financially responsible for supporting an adoptive child, even if the family receives adoption subsidies or financial help through the state. Adoptive children share in the estate of the parents. Foster families receive a stipend for costs associated with caring for a foster child.

·         Decision-making responsibilities. Adoptive parents take on full decision-making responsibilities, including decisions regarding medical treatment, schooling and religious upbringing. Decisions regarding foster children are shared among the foster parents, birth parents and state social workers.

·         Attachment goals. The state helps adoptive parents form an attachment with their adoptive child. When a child is in foster care, the goal is to reattach him to his birth family, and the foster family and state work together to successfully return the child to a healthy home life with his birth family.

·         Day-to-day parenting differences. Once an adoption is finalized, parents don’t have a social worker in their homes to observe, evaluate and offer assistance with parenting. Foster parents are regularly assessed and evaluated.

Is adoption always the best choice for foster care children?
Although the goal, once a child enters into foster care, is to be reunited with their original family, it is not always likely or in the best interest of the child.   Adoption is considered once a parent(s) loses their parental rights in which a child then becomes legally available for adoption.  Depending on the state, a parent loses parental rights based on their failure to be able to care for the child and/or able to provide a safe, healthy, and loving environment for the child to live in.  This can be determined by excessive abuse and/or neglect as well as abandonment.
What are the benefits of adoption for a child and the adopters?
While there is much to consider when adopting a child one would believe by the time a person has made the decision to adopt that they have opened up their hearts and home ready to receive a child who deserves a loving family.  Children in foster care suffer from traumatic experiences of abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment and need extra love and care as well as patience as they go through the process of healing.  All children bring great joy to any family who is ready to receive them especially to those who are willing to expand their family or to those individuals who cannot naturally give birth to their own.

Children in foster care who are adopted are giving hope for the future and a sense of belonging.  It is known that children who grow up in a nurturing family and stabled environment are more likely to finish school and less likely to grow up having psychological or behavior problems that would impede on them becoming successful in life.

Can adoption be a negative experience for the child in foster care?
The experience of a child in foster care and those that are adopted differ from one child to another.  However, it is the hopes that once a child is adopted they are being placed in a loving and nurturing environment where they will be able to thrive into becoming healthy adults.

Are there situations where adoption may not be the best alternative to foster care?
There may not be a need for adoption when the parents that the child has been taken from has the potential to be rehabilitated to care for their child and the desire of the child is to go back home.  Parents going through rehabilitation process have to successfully complete programs and accept services that will enable them to care for their child(ren) before they can be returned back to them.

How can adults looking to adopt a child get more information on foster care and agencies?
To find out how you can become a foster or adoptive parent in New Jersey, you can visit their website at:
http://www.state.nj.us/njfosteradopt/foster/ for all the information you will need.

To find out how you can become a foster or adoptive parent in New York, you can visit their website at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/acs/html/become_parent/become_parent.shtml for all the information you will need.

For all other states, please contact or visit your local Department of Children and Family Services for more information.

Here are a list of professional agencies, groups and individuals that provide information and help to parents, children and individuals in need of information on Foster Care, Adoption and other services involving these areas.

If you should need further assistance in knowing more about the following resources, please feel free to contact me. I will gladly assist you in any areas to point you in the right direction to get you the information needed.

Transitioning From Foster Care

What is “transitioning”?

Transition is when a youth is preparing to shift from being dependent to becoming independent.

What happens to children once they leave foster care?

They are sent out into the world to basically fend for themselves. They are no longer entitled to the services that are provided to them through child welfare.  If they are unprepared to live a life on their own many will suddenly be faced with homelessness, unemployment, lack of education and loneliness as noted in the following statistics:

•    33% will experience homelessness 12-18 months after leaving foster care.
•    33% were receiving public assistance
•    37% had not finished high school
•    51% were unemployed
•    84% became a parent
•    40% experience alcohol or drug abuse
•    37% have some type of mental disorder due to experiences within the foster care system
•    30% have no health insurance
•    27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated (80% of prison inmates have been through the foster care system)

Aging Out and How it Affects Children in Foster Care

What exactly is Aging Out?

The term “aging out” is used to describe a youth between the ages of 18-21 who is being discharged from foster care and sent out to live their life as an adult.

What should be done for youth entering the aging out stage?

It is mandatory that an exit plan be put in place for each child aging out of the foster care system to ensure a smooth transition from care to their own independence. Each state is awarded grants through the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) which offers assistance to help current and former foster care youths achieve self-sufficiency. Activities and programs include, but are not limited to, help with education, employment, financial management, housing, emotional support and assured connections to caring adults for older youth in foster care as well as youth 18-21 who have aged out of the foster care system.

In addition, there are other funding resources and organizations throughout each state that provide services to assist youth aging out.

What can youth do for themselves to prepare themselves for the aging out process?

The youth need to speak candidate and articulately about what they want for their lives, not just today but for their futures. If given responsibility and adequate support they will be able to create a constructive action plan that will help them reach their goals.  They are the best advocates for themselves and must be a part of the process.

Once at the “aging out” stage, what are the next steps for exiting foster care?

As soon as a plan is put in place, implementation should begin. This can be done either through a supervised Independent Living Program or guidance from their foster parents where structure and barriers are put in place to keep them on track.

What is Foster Care?

Foster care is where children are placed with people (other than their parents) who will provide a safe place for them to be cared for.  Foster care is a temporary situation until a permanent home is found or until they can be returned home to their biological parents.

However, there are often times that children are placed in foster care until they have “aged out”, “emancipated”, or have been “discharged” from care at the age of 18 or 21 (depending on the state) without having received a permanent placement.

What is life like for a child growing up in foster care?
Foster Care can be a daunting experience.  Imagine being taken from the only family that you knew and placed with total strangers without really knowing the reason why.  Children are innocent and even when they are taken from an environment that is at imminent risk of danger, they often feel like they are the ones being punished or they blame themselves when they are placed in foster care.  Children placed in foster care are there at no fault of their own.  Foster care is only a temporary situation and children are often bounced around from one place to another several times before a stabled placement is found for them.  A stabled placement can either be in a foster home that is similar to a family structure or a group home that operates as a residential treatment facility.  It is more likely that younger children are placed with families while older children are placed in a group home.  The longer a child is placed in foster care without any permanency plan put in place, the harder it is for the child to cope.

However, when a child is placed in a foster home where they are loved and cared for in a loving way, the experience and benefits can be most rewarding.

What are the basic reasons that children are placed into foster care?

A child is placed in foster care when the State has determined that the child(ren) are at imminent risk of danger. The reasons taken into consideration are due to abuse, neglect and/or abandonment.

What type of life does a child live once place into the foster care system?

Although there are some experiences that are favorable, most foster children are like little soldiers living on the front lines fighting the battle to overcome adversity on a daily basis. Wounded, scared, & confused, some leave without a sense of knowing what the future holds for them.  There is often no structure or stability put in place, which lead many to self-destruct.  Many children who are in long-term foster care are not adequately prepared or given a proper exit plan that will guide them to live independent lives as adults.

Can children become successful citizens that have been raised in the foster care system?
Children in foster care can live as successful adults and become an integral part of society if given the right tools, resources, and if the supports they need are put in place in order for them to become self-sufficient.

Children raised in foster care have special gifts that if channeled in a positive way, can make for a great leader.  These particular children are mentally strong, resilient and full of life.  They are long suffering in the face of adversity, comfortable with risk and uncertainty, and they know how to deal well with stress and conflict.

How can services such as the Underground Railroad to Success (URS) benefit children of the foster care system?
Education is our theme and as President Obama has stated “education is a prerequisite to how successful one will be in life”.  URS is an information based organization determined to educate youth on how to transition out of care to their own independence successfully.  URS identifies resources specifically available to children aging out of foster care. Research is done on a continuous basis to ensure up-to-date information.  URS partners with experts in the fields of financial literacy, college preparedness, job readiness, and character/leadership building in order to host workshops for their yearly conference.  URS has also trademarked their own workshop designed to assist foster youth in creating a action plan that will promote success in achieving their goals.

On average, what chances do “Aged Out” children have of living a healthy life without the help of services like Railroad To Success?
Children in the foster care system typically develop an attitude to survive as well as coping mechanisms that enable them to endure despite the challenges they face while in care.  However, as they grow older and approach the point when they are about to age out, they face even more difficult odds. Foster children who reach 18 without being adopted or reunited with family or properly prepared to transition out onto their own independence have devastatingly high rates of imprisonment, homelessness, alcohol and substance abuse, and a myriad of other problems. Take for example these statistics reported by the Child Welfare League of America of children who left foster care:

•    33% have experience homelessness 12-18 months after leaving foster care.
•    27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated (80% of prison inmates have been through the foster care system)
•    33% were receiving public assistance
•    37% had not finished high school
•    51% were unemployed
•    84% became a parent
•    40% experience alcohol or drug abuse
•    37% have some type of mental disorder due to experiences within the foster care system
•    30% have no health insurance